Papua New Guinea · Southern Region
Port Moresby
Papua New Guinea's gateway capital, with birds of paradise displaying in the hills above it and the start of the Kokoda Track up the road.
Port Moresby is Papua New Guinea's capital and its front door: most international flights land here, among dry savanna hills around a wide natural harbour. It is a working city rather than a tourist one, and visitors move by hotel car rather than on foot. What rewards a day or two is the country in miniature: carved masks and canoe prows, a Parliament built as a giant spirit house, birds of paradise in the forest above town, and the Second World War on the road to the Kokoda Track.
Suggested stay
2–3 days
Language
Tok Pisin, English
Currency
PGK
Timezone
UTC+10
Why you'll love Port Moresby
Birds of paradise male Raggianas, the national bird, display in the treetops at Varirata at first light, and the Nature Park keeps them alongside tree kangaroos and cassowaries
The Kokoda story the 1942 campaign that stopped short of the capital is remembered at Bomana War Cemetery and at Owers' Corner, where the track drops into the Owen Stanley Range
A nation in one museum the National Museum and Art Gallery gathers masks, shields and canoe prows from a country of hundreds of cultures, next door to the spirit-house Parliament
Motu harbour Hanuabada's stilt houses still stand over Fairfax Harbour, home of the Motu people whose lakatoi canoes once sailed west to trade clay pots for sago
Best time to visit
May-Nov
30-33° days
9.474° S, 147.160° E
UTC+10 · Pacific/Port Moresby
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Weather & when to go to Port Moresby
Month by month: typical highs and lows, rainfall and rain days.
✓ Best May-Nov
Watch for Nov-Apr cyclones & hurricanes risk · Nov-May marine stingers risk
Cards tinted by calculated verdict · big number = typical daily high, small = low · hover for conditions
When to avoid Port Moresby
No month to avoid outright. The dry season is sunny, breezy and dusty, with the hills burnt brown; the wet season from December to April brings heavy afternoon downpours, sticky humidity and the odd flooded road, and turns the hills green.
Top things to do in Port Moresby
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National Museum and Art Gallery - Papua New Guinea's cultures under one roof
culture arts history 👍 PopularBeside the Parliament at Waigani, the national collection gathers masks, carved shields, spirit figures and canoe prows from the Sepik, the highlands, the islands and the Papuan coast. In a country of hundreds of languages, it is the one place to see side by side how differently each region carves, weaves and decorates.
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Parliament House - a spirit house for the nation
culture arts history 👍 PopularThe national Parliament at Waigani takes the shape of a Sepik haus tambaran, the men's spirit house, its front gable soaring over a vast mosaic facade. Opened in 1984, it is the capital's defining building and the clearest statement of how the young nation chose to present itself.
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Port Moresby Nature Park - birds of paradise and tree kangaroos
nature wildlife ⭐ Highly recommendedThe former national botanic gardens on the university campus now make the easiest close-up of the country's wildlife: birds of paradise in large aviaries, tree kangaroos, cassowaries and a big orchid collection, along shaded paths that are among the few places in town made for strolling.
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Varirata National Park - birds of paradise at dawn
nature wildlife scenic ⭐ Highly recommendedThe country's first national park sits on the edge of the Sogeri Plateau, about an hour from the city. Arrive at first light to watch male Raggiana birds of paradise display in the treetops, then walk the forest trails to lookouts over the plains, the city and the sea.
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Bomana War Cemetery - the graves of the Papuan campaign
history 👍 PopularThe largest war cemetery in Papua New Guinea lies in quiet lawns off the Sogeri road north of the city. Rows of white headstones hold the dead of Kokoda, Milne Bay and the beachhead battles at Buna and Gona, and the Port Moresby Memorial names those with no known grave.
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Hanuabada - the stilt village on Fairfax Harbour
culture arts historyThe original Motu village of the harbour spreads out over the water in stilt houses joined by long wooden walkways. It is a home rather than a sight, so go with a local guide or contact who can take you in.
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Ela Beach - the downtown seafront
scenicThe town beach curves below the old centre, with a seafront promenade and the angular APEC Haus on the point, built for the 2018 leaders' summit. Local families come out on weekend afternoons; it is a place for a daylight stroll rather than an evening one.
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Loloata Island and Bootless Bay - reefs on the capital's doorstep
nature wildlife adventureSouth-east of the city, the reefs of Bootless Bay give the capital its diving and snorkelling, a short boat ride from the shore. Loloata Island, a resort island in the bay, is the usual base for a day in the water or simply a day out of town.
Best areas to stay in Port Moresby
$ Budget $$ Mid-range $$$ Premium
Waigani
Sightseeing base $$$Government district of museums and malls
Explore hotels in Waigani →
Downtown and Ela Beach
Harbour views $$$Old harbour-front centre above the beach
Explore hotels in Downtown and Ela Beach →
Jacksons Airport
Early flights $$Airport hotels on the city's edge
Explore hotels in Jacksons Airport →
Live nightly prices from Booking.com, Agoda and others, centred on Port Moresby
Getting to & around Port Moresby
Getting there
Fly into Jacksons International (POM), the country's main gateway; no road links the capital to the rest of Papua New Guinea
Flight
Jacksons International Airport (POM)
Jacksons sits on the city's north-eastern edge, around 20 minutes by road from Waigani and a little longer to downtown; most hotels meet flights with their own shuttles, and that is how nearly everyone arrives.
Getting around
Hotel shuttle
The default: most hotels run guests to the airport, the malls and the main sights, and this is how most visitors get around
TBC
Car with driver
Book a driver or guide through your hotel or a tour operator for Waigani's sights and the Sogeri road; visitors rarely drive themselves
TBC
PMV bus
Public motor vehicles, the crowded minibuses that cover the whole city, are best left to locals; visitors are advised not to use them
TBC
Day trips from Port Moresby
Varirata National Park
Half dayBirds of paradise
Leave before dawn to reach the display trees as the male Raggiana birds of paradise start calling and dancing, then walk the forest trails to the escarpment lookouts over Port Moresby and the coast.
Getting there
car | tour
About an hour by car with a driver or guide, up the Sogeri road onto the plateau
Sogeri Plateau and Owers' Corner
Full dayKokoda Track trailhead
The road climbs past Bomana's war graves and Rouna Falls onto the cooler plateau to Owers' Corner, the southern end of the Kokoda Track, where a memorial looks over the Owen Stanley Range and the track drops toward the Goldie River.
Getting there
car | tour
About an hour and a half by car or guided tour, past Bomana War Cemetery and Rouna Falls
Loloata Island
Full dayIsland and reef
A small resort island in Bootless Bay, south-east of the city, used as a base for diving and snorkelling the bay's reefs, or just for a day by the water away from the capital's traffic and fences.
Getting there
car | ferry
Under an hour by car to Bootless Bay, then a short boat ride out
A little history of Port Moresby
Long before the city, the Motu and Koita peoples lived around the harbour, the Motu in stilt villages over the water at Hanuabada. Motu women were potters, and each year the men loaded the clay pots onto lakatoi, big multi-hulled canoes with crab-claw sails, and rode the trade winds west to the Gulf of Papua to exchange them for sago, returning on the monsoon. In 1873 Captain John Moresby charted the harbour and named it after his father. Missionaries followed, Britain proclaimed a protectorate here in 1884, and the town became capital of British New Guinea and, from 1906, of Australian Papua.
In 1942 Port Moresby was the prize of the Pacific war in New Guinea. Japanese bombers raided it repeatedly, the Battle of the Coral Sea turned back a seaborne invasion, and the Kokoda campaign halted an overland advance across the Owen Stanley Range within reach of the town. After the war it became capital of the joint Territory of Papua and New Guinea, and at independence in 1975 of the new nation, with government moving out to purpose-built Waigani.
Captain John Moresby of HMS Basilisk charts the harbour and names it after his father, Admiral Fairfax Moresby
William Lawes of the London Missionary Society settles at the harbour among the Motu
Britain proclaims a protectorate over south-east New Guinea at Port Moresby
British New Guinea passes to Australia as the Territory of Papua, governed from Port Moresby
Japanese air raids begin; the Battle of the Coral Sea turns back a seaborne invasion and the Kokoda campaign halts an overland advance
Papua and New Guinea are joined under one administration, with Port Moresby as capital
Papua New Guinea becomes independent, with Port Moresby as its capital
The new Parliament House, built in the form of a Sepik spirit house, opens at Waigani
Port Moresby hosts the APEC leaders' summit, and APEC Haus goes up on the point at Ela Beach
Know before you go
Payment
Cash preferred
English
Widely spoken
Wifi
Workable
Power
Type I
240 V, 50 Hz
Dialing
+675
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Marine stingers risk in this window; check current conditions before you go.
FAQs about Port Moresby
▸ When is the best time to visit Port Moresby?
The dry season, May to November, is the easiest: sunny, breezy days with the south-east trade winds and little rain, and the same months are the main trekking season on the Kokoda Track. December to April is the wet season, hot and humid with heavy afternoon downpours, but a short city stop still works.
▸ Is Port Moresby safe to visit?
It takes more planning than most capitals, and the standard precautions are ones every hotel and company in town follows: travel by hotel shuttle or a pre-arranged driver, do not walk the streets or ride PMV buses, stay in after dark and keep phones and cash out of sight. Trips out to Varirata or the Sogeri road go with a driver or guide. Unrest can flare at short notice, so check your government's current advice.
▸ Can you drive from Port Moresby to the rest of Papua New Guinea?
No. No road links the capital to Lae or the highlands, so the rest of the country is reached by air, with domestic flights fanning out from Jacksons to every province. Roads from the city run only a short way along the coast in each direction and up onto the Sogeri Plateau.
▸ Is Port Moresby worth visiting, or just a transit stop?
For most visitors it is the gateway: international flights land here and connect onward to the highlands, the islands and the Kokoda Track. But a day covers the National Museum, Parliament House and the Nature Park, and the birds of paradise at Varirata and the war sites on the Sogeri road are worth a second day and an early start.
▸ Can I see the Kokoda Track from Port Moresby?
Yes, in a day. Owers' Corner, the track's southern end, is about an hour and a half by road over the Sogeri Plateau, and you can walk the first steep descent toward the Goldie River before turning back. The full crossing takes most trekkers 8-10 days with a licensed operator, and usually starts or ends with a flight over the range.